I was out on a boat ride with some colleagues on Friday night when, I can’t remember how, we started talking about Lego and all the different sets you can get now for your kids – the Harry Potter and the Star Wars, the police stations and the airports.

We discussed how most parents carefully keep these sets in their boxes, so that the next time the kids want to make the Harry Potter castle they can do it with the right pieces and instructions to hand.

There was general consensus that when we were kids, you pretty much had a bucket of Lego that was used for making up stuff! Kids used their imagination (yes that old chestnut) to work out intriguing ways to make the spiffy rocket or gargantuan all-terrain vehicle that their heart desired on a quiet Sunday morning.

One among us made the observation that Lego and Ikea instructions are remarkably similar.  Pictures, diagrams, no words.  I’m guessing some smarty pants at Ikea made the observation some time ago that millions of kids around the world have managed to follow Lego instructions, so it would probably be a good way to go with their global domination plans (which appear to be going swimmingly to date).

I like to think that they have a Lego-Ikea Deed of Instructional Similarity  drawn up, ensuring that their instruction manuals maintain at least a similar look and feel, or perhaps as time goes on even introducing features into Lego to make it even closer to Ikea.  Look forward to the introduction of the Lego Allen key folks, it can’t be far away.

But enough of conspiracy theories.  How about a small suggestion instead.  If you, like me, have to date kept those individual boxes together, it’s time.  Chuck out those Lego boxes, throw all the pieces into one ginormous bucket, bring it down to the lounge today and see what they make!

That is of course unless you want your kid to grow up to be  a Gold-Certified Ikea Putter-Togetherer, which is admittedly a handy certification to have.

For me? I’m off to collect those boxes together, find a bucket, and let some Lego police mingle with Lego doctors.  Ciao ciao….